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WiFi hardware

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Vasily Evseenko edited this page Jan 24, 2019 · 13 revisions

Supported WiFi hardware:

My primary hardware targets are:

  1. Realtek RTL8812au. 802.11ac capable. Easy to buy. Requires external patched driver! System was tested with ALPHA AWUS036ACH on both sides in 5GHz mode.
  2. Ralink RT28xx family. Cheap, but doesn't produced anymore. System was tested with ALPHA AWUS051NH v2 as TX and array of RT5572 OEM cards as RX in 5GHz mode.

The following Atheros chipsets should work (not used by author):

  • Atheros AR9271, Atheros AR9280, Atheros AR9287

The following Ralink chipsets should work (not used by author):

  • RT2070, RT2770, RT2870, RT3070, RT3071, RT3072, RT3370, RT3572, RT5370, RT5372, RT5572

However, there might be whatever small issues that prevent some cards from working, so if you want to play it safe, choose one of the cards that have been tested by different people and definitely work:

  • CSL 300Mbit Stick (2.4/5Ghz, Diversity, RT5572 chipset)
  • Alfa AWUS036NHA (2.3/2.4Ghz, high power, Atheros AR9271 chipset)
  • TPLink TL-WN722N (2.3/2.4Ghz, Atheros AR9271 chipset)
  • ALFA AWUS051NH v2 (2.4Ghz/5Ghz, high power, Ralink RT3572 chipset)
  • ALFA AWUS052NH v2 (2.4Ghz/5Ghz, Diversity, high power, Ralink chipset)
  • TP-Link-TL-WDN3200 (2.4/5Ghz, Diversity, RT5572 chipset)
  • Ralink RT5572 (2.4/5Ghz, Diversity???, RT5572 chipset)

On the other hand, if everybody gets the same cards, we'll never find out which other ones work. There are also very small and lightweight RT5370 cards available in china shops for under 4$. Aliexpress for example has a lot of cheap wifi cards in general. It would be nice if you report back your findings in case you tried a wifi card that is not listed here.

  • AWUS036NHA This adapter will provide around 280mW output power. Ranges of several kilometers have been reported (with directional antennas though).

  • TL-WN722N This adapter will provide around 60mW output power. Range should be roughly around 800-1000m with 2.1dbi stock antennas. IMPORTANT: Under certain circumstances, the second antenna on the PCB causes bad reception. Please disconnect the antenna by removing the white PCB component on the back of the PCB like shown below (in the picture, the component was soldered to the upper pad to be able to reverse the mod if needed)

  • CSL 300Mbit stick This adapter provides around 30mw output power. Range on 5Ghz is not very high, around 200-300m. Stock antennas are not usable on 5Ghz, as they are simple 2.4Ghz 2.1dbi sleeved-dipole antennas.

When used as an Rx dongle, bad blocks can occur when the received signal strength is higher than -20dbm. This can be worked-around by using more than one adapter and pointing antennas in different directions / polarizations.

  • AWUS051NH This adapter will provide around 330mw output power. Range on 5Ghz is around 800-1000m. Stock antenna is not recommended because they have 5dbi gain, which will give a too-flat radiation pattern.

  • AWUS052NH This adapter will provide around 330mw output power. This is the same adapter as the 051NH, but with two TX chains. Stock antennas are not recommended because they have 5dbi gain, which will give a too-flat radiation pattern.

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